


Trick or Treat 2018

by EzzyDean



Category: Free!, Haikyuu!!
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-17 16:56:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 8,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17564393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EzzyDean/pseuds/EzzyDean
Summary: A collection of various (many of them rare) ship prompts written in the spirit of Halloween (aka Ezzy's 2018 trick or treat prompt fills)





	1. AsaShiba Treat1

**Author's Note:**

> Instead of posting chronologically and indicating the connected fics I'm posting all of one and then all of the other together. As with last year's I'm pretty sure all of the tricks are at least loosely connected and the treats are unconnected unless indicated otherwise.

Yuuki rolled the stem of the leaf in his hand idly, slowly spinning it back and forth in the cool air.  He was determined.  He was going to do it this time.  He spun the leaf a little faster a few times before stopping suddenly and dropping it to the ground.  There was no use in continuing to dawdle around.  He’d just wind up talking himself out of it yet again.

He took a deep breath of the crisp air and nodded to himself.  The dry leaves and gravel crunched and crackled under his shoes as he made his way down the path.  Little pumpkins stood atop each fence post he passed and before he could convince himself this was a bad idea he had passed all twenty-seven of them and was standing in front of the dark red door once again.  He tugged the sleeves of his sweater down over his fingers and stared at the door wondering what was going on behind it, what the house smelled like, if there was still that cracked glass with the four leaf clover etched onto it that he left here.

Just as he raised his hand to knock the door was yanked open and he backpedaled out of the way.

Sugawara tilted his head and gave him a sort of all knowing look that Yuuki remembered seeing on Yaku’s face a lot back in high school then he leaned back inside the door and yelled something Yuuki couldn’t quite catch.  He was so wrapped up in memories when Asahi’s voice rang out that he didn’t even listen to the words.

“Come find out for yourself,” Sugawara yelled over his shoulder.  “I’m gonna be late if I don’t go now.”  He patted Yuuki on the shoulder as he walked past him.  “Don’t look so worried.  He’ll be happy to see you.”

He hadn’t been worried about that at all.  He knew Asahi would be happy to see him.  It had been months since they had seen each other in person.  He was more worried about the question he needed to ask Asahi and what Asahi would answer.

“The least he could do is shut the door,” Asahi muttered, shaking his head as he stepped out of the house.  Then he gasped softly when he spotted Yuuki and hurried over to give him a crushing hug.

“Missed you,” Yuuki said.

“Missed you too,” Asahi replied.  “I’d miss you less if you’d just move in with me already.  I mean this is always your first stop when you get back as it is.”  Yuuki grinned at him.  It was a playful argument they’d had hundreds of times and the fact that it was the first thing Asahi said to him made most of his worries about his question slip away.

“About that,” Yuuki said.  He rocked back on his heels and took a moment to look at Asahi.  The way his sweater pulled across his shoulders.  The way his hair was falling out of his tiny bun.  The way he looked framed in the soft warm light coming from the door he forgot to shut when he spotted Yuuki.  “I know you’re not big on the whole getting tangled up in paperwork and legal stuff like that.  But-” he pulled out a little box from his pocket and pressed it into Asahi’s hand “- would you be willing to do the rest of it?  Wear my ring and be mine and let me move in with you?”

Asahi’s eyes lit up and he tackled Yuuki to the ground, rolling them both through the dry leaves.  He peppered Yuuki’s face with kisses until they were both laughing so hard they were nearly crying.

“I’m more than willing,” Asahi finally said.  He opened the box and smiled as he slipped on the ring.

Later when they were inside sipping at hot cocoa, Asahi staring at the ring on his finger and then smiling at Yuuki, the thought finally occurred to him.

“You have told Sugawara we’re dating right?”

Asahi froze, eyes wide.  “Oh no,” he whispered.  “He’s gonna kill me.  You’re in love with a dead man.”


	2. DaiSei Treat2

Seijuurou slumped into the chair across from Daichi with a groan.  His phone chimed in his pocket and he groaned again.

“That bad?”  Daichi reached over and ruffled Seijuurou’s hair, product free for once but warm as hell from the stocking cap he’d been wearing all day.

“I need a hot cocoa spiked with anything.”  Seijuurou raised his head to stare into Daichi’s eyes.  “Anything.  Even whatever weird shit Suga left after last weekend.”

“Wow.  And I thought my siblings were bad.”

His phone chimed again and Seijuurou growled irritatedly.  “Isuzu wants a fun goofy costume party.  Momo wants a fancy costume party.  Isuzu wants one theme for decorations, Momo wants another.  Isuzu insists on a certain flavor of punch and Momo insists on another.  It’s a disaster and I’m about to just let Suga have them both.”

“That’s a bit extreme, even for you.”  Seijuurou gave him a dead eyed stare that made Daichi shiver.  “Or not.  Sounds perfectly reasonable actually?”

Seijuurou sat up and smacked his hands on the table.  “That’s it.  You.  Me.  Spiked cocoa.  Scary movies.  Cuddles on the couch.  Now.”

Daichi laughed.  “Sounds like a plan to me.”

Twenty minutes later they were snuggled together under a blanket with the latest horror movie loaded up waiting for Daichi to hit the play button.  Seijuurou sighed happily and took a long drink of his cocoa.

“That’s the stuff,” he murmured as he sank deeper against Daichi’s side and peered over the edge of the blanket.  “Do it,” he said.

Daichi grinned and pressed play.  He knew that it would be less than ten minutes and Seijuurou would be burying his face in the blanket and Daichi’s neck to avoid the grizzly massacre happening on screen.  All in all it was a good end to a long day.  Even when Seijuurou had his hand in a death grip under the blanket and Daichi was losing feeling in his fingertips.


	3. KageMomo Treat3

“Tick tock tick tock,” Momo sang from the kitchen.  “We haven’t got all night.”

Tobio frowned at his costume spread out on the bed.  Then scowled at it for good measure.

“Technically we kind of do.  Since it’s not like we said what time we’d be there.”  Tobio padded into the kitchen.  “And I am not wearing that.”

Momo spun around - the dramaticness of it multiplied by how easily he spun on the hardwood with his fuzzy orange socks - and gasped.

“But if you don’t wear it we won’t match and then we won’t win the cutest couple contest and get the prize and -” Momo kept going but Tobio tuned him out.  He never would have guessed years ago when he was back in high school that dealing with Yachi’s panicking rambling winding monologues then would help him in the future.  But here he is now.  Dealing with Momo’s ramble.

He nodded along and made soothing enough noises and watched for the signs that Momo was coming to a stop and tuned back in just in time to hear Momo ask why he didn’t love him enough to wear matching costumes to his big brother’s party.  Tobio grabbed Momo’s wrist and tugged him forward until he could wrap him in a hug and nuzzle at his temple.

“I never said I wouldn’t wear matching costumes with you.  I just said I was not wearing that costume.”

Momo jerked his head back.  “What?  Why not that one?”

“Because it’s the one Hinata wore last Halloween.  And it was too small for him.  There’s no way I’m fitting into it.”

Momo’s eyes widened and he started laughing.  “Oh that’s cause the one on the bed is for Hinata.  He’s wearing it again this year.  Yours is hanging on the back of the door.”

Tobio tilted his head and detached himself from Momo so he could hurry back to the bedroom.  Sure enough there was a costume hanging from the door and it was perfect.  Twenty minutes later he stepped back into the kitchen.

“Ready to win a contest or two?” He asked.

Momo spun around - he was wearing his shoes this time so the dramaticness was a little subdued - and grinned when he saw Tobio in costume.

Momo cheered.  “Oh I am always ready to win!”


	4. AsaDaiSugaYui Treat4

“It has to be perfect.”  Suga skittered around the room in a way that reminded Daichi of a chihuahua on a sugar high somehow.  Daichi shook his head and propped his chin in his hand.

“Or what?  You’re gonna kill someone?”

Suga straightened up from the flower arrangement he was working on and snapped his head to the side.  His eyes were glowing a little as he pinned Daichi with a stare.  The little hairs on the back of Daichi’s neck stood at attention as Suga’s magic slowly filled the room.

“Maybe I will,” Suga said tersely.  “And I have a feeling if I do that someone will be you.”

“Isn’t that kind of an empty threat since he’s already, you know, a little dead anyway?” Yui asked from the doorway.

Suga turned his glare on her.  It worked on her about as well as it had on Daichi: not very.

“Well.  That just makes sewing him back up a piece of cake then doesn’t it?”  Suga’s glare switched to a sickeningly sweet smile so fast Daichi felt dizzy.  Then he spun away from them and went back to fretting with the flowers on the table.

Yui slipped into Daichi’s lap and pressed a kiss to his temple.

“Did he just call me easy?” Daichi asked her.

“Kind of?”  She kissed the pout from his lips and he tasted the sunshine on hers.  “But that’s okay we still love you.”

—

Asahi rolled his neck back and forth a few times on his way up the sidewalk.  He was always so sore after a transformation.  It really wasn’t fair if you asked him.

He slipped into the house silently and left his dirty clothes in a pile by the door - it had taken him months and months and months to get used to leaving them there and walking naked through the house without turning firetruck red - to trudge down the hallways to the bedroom.  He froze halfway there and then backtracked to the kitchen, following the scent of fresh sunflowers until he found Yui sitting on the kitchen counter with a book open on her lap.

“Hey you,” he whispered hoarsely.  It was all he could manage after the night he had.

“Hey you.”  Yui smiled brilliantly at him and held out her hand.  He gladly took it and pressed a kiss to her palm.  She tasted like sunshine and growing things and fresh water in a stream.  “The other two are in the basement.  Doing undead unholy slightly demony things.  The usual.”

Asahi smiled and leaned against her for a moment.

“Let me get cleaned up and find some clean clothes and we’ll see what they’re up to?”

“Don’t get dressed on my account,” she called after him as he left the kitchen.  “Or theirs.”

There was the full body blush he had almost managed to avoid.  He shook his head and left her there.  Some days he didn’t know how he managed to love them all.  But he did.


	5. KuroIwaYui Treat5

“What is the difference between a wizard and a mage and a sorcerer anyway?”  Hinata tilted his head in that adorable way that always made Yui’s chest tighten protectively.  “I mean.  Aren’t they all basically the same thing?”

“In the most basic explanation sure.  They’re all magic users.  But don’t let them hear you say that,” Yui added, glancing over at Tetsurou and Hajime.  “Even if you dig into the backgrounds and etymology of the words it’s hard to define them really.  But generally most people think of mage as kind of a general title or job, and it’s usually a lower level basic magic user.”  Hinata nodded in understanding.  “Wizard and sorcerer are a little trickier.  But most of the time sorcerers are more into darker magics and more instinctual spellwork and wizards are more technical and use, well, family friendly magic I guess.”

Hinata hummed.  “That makes sense.  I think.”

He watched Hajime and Tetsurou for a minute and then turned to her.  “So what are you?”

Yui startled a little.  “Me?”  He nodded.  “I am something entirely different,” she answered with a wink.

“Something different enough to have two high powered magic users at her beck and call?”  The look in Hinata’s eyes was far too sharp and clever for her tastes.  She shook her head and laughed softly at his curious look.

“I am different enough to hold their curiosity, little faerie.  And that’s all you need to know.”

It was Hinata’s turn to look startled and she smiled sweetly at him.

—

“So what did you tell the kid that had him so surprised?”  Tetsurou stretched out beside her in the grass and tickled at the nape of her neck with his wind magic.  “He looked ready to bolt there at the end.”

Hajime hummed in agreement as he curled against her side.

“I dunno.  Hinata’s always been a mystery to me.”  Hajime snorted at her words, his amusement palpable against her skin.  “Well he has.”

“If you say so,” Hajime murmured, already giving in to the pull of her magic and happily dropping off to sleep.  “If you say so.”


	6. IwaKen Treat6

Leaves scuttled across the empty road and Hajime watched them without really seeing them.  His mind was a galaxy away.  And then some.

Cold hands settled against the back of his neck and he jumped.

“What I don’t understand is how you love monster movies so much yet you jump so badly when scared.”  Kenma’s cold hands slid off his neck as Kenma leaned forward to peer up at him.  He was wearing a baseball cap - one of Matsukawa’s from the look of it - and had his hair tucked up into it messily.  He was also wearing Hajime’s favorite scarf and one of his favorite jackets and honestly no one should look decent in that hodgepodge mess of an outfit but somehow he did.  Or maybe it was just because Hajime hadn’t seen him for almost a year that was making him look so good.

“Well what I don’t understand,” Hajime replied, “is how you can look like a model for some bizarre teen fashion magazine when I know damn well you’ve been on a plane for ten hours, probably haven’t showered for at least two days, and are wearing three different people’s clothing.”

Kenma gave him a smirk.  “Twelve hours.  Three and a half days.  Six people,” he leaned and pressed his shoulder against Hajime’s arm, “and none of it is mine,” he whispered conspiratorially.

“Six-”  He glanced at Kenma’s outfit again.  Hat, scarf, jeans, jacket, long sleeved t-shirt.  Five pieces of clothing he could see.  He groaned softly.  “Please tell me your underwear is actually yours.”

“Get Oikawa to buy me a hot chocolate and maybe I’ll tell you.”  Kenma looked up at him innocently and he sighed again.

Then Hajime grinned and held his arm up for Kenma to slip under and he happily wrapped him in a hug.

“Welcome home,” he said.

Kenma laughed quietly against his chest.  “Glad to be home,” he mumbled.


	7. OiKage Treat7 (6b)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is connected to the previous one in that they're in the same au but can be read separately.

Tobio slid across the floor with ease, swaying and spinning gracefully in time with the music.  It was one of the reasons that had won him over two years ago when he was looking for a house to buy; most of the flooring was well-maintained, smooth, shiny hardwood.  He twirled once and slid down the hallway as he hummed along.  He didn’t even realize he wasn’t alone anymore until the music cut off and he nearly slid into the wall in surprise.

“Classy,” Tooru said with a grin as Tobio recovered.

“Why did you shut the music off?  Wait.”  Tobio sucked in a huge breath.  “When did you get back?  I thought your flight wasn’t until tomorrow?”

Tooru held his arms open for a hug that Tobio gladly slid himself into.

“Kenma and I grabbed an earlier flight.  We got everything done and decided to come home.”  Tobio sighed and nuzzled himself into Tooru’s arms.  It was one of his favorite places to be and he was so glad Tooru was back so he could have that favorite place back within arms reach.  “Had I known I would come home to a show I would have come home even sooner.”

Tobio rolled his eyes and pulled away eventually.

“Fuzzy socks and hardwood floors are important you know.”

Tooru followed him back into the living room where they had their sound system set up.  “I know they’re important.  I just was more surprised by the music I guess.”

Tobio spun back around and stared at Tooru in surprise.  After all these years they’d known each other and the years they’d dated someone Tooru didn’t know this about him?  He squinted suspiciously.  Or was Tooru just messing with him?

“How are you surprised by The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack?”

“Because it’s October?”

Tooru had to be messing with him.  Right?

“Have…have you ever seen The Nightmare Before Christmas?”

Tooru flipped his hair out of his eyes and raised his brows at Tobio.  “Yes?”

Tobio hit play and took Tooru’s hand.  “We’re dancing and then we’re watching it.”

Tooru tugged on Tobio’s hand and spun him a few time before pulling him close.  “That sounds like an excellent plan.”


	8. UshiHina Treat8

Sometimes even the sun needs to take a break and hide behind some clouds.  Autumn was the perfect time for that.  The perfect time to curl up behind a dark blanket of dreariness and dampness and misery.

Shouyou sniffled and buried himself deeper into the couch.  He had become one with it nearly an hour ago and had no intention of changing that.  Ever, if he could help it.

He was contently ensconced in a nest of blankets, pillows, and one of Wakatoshi’s sweatshirts when the door opened and a cool breeze rushed in.  He shivered at the sensation.  The cold wasn’t that bad for him, he handled it better than most really.  He just hated it when he already felt like crap.  The cold was a gross icing on the cupcake of his life when he was in the middle of a bad run of things.

A warm weight settled at his feet, or close enough to them, and he burrowed deeper into his nest.  It’s not that he didn’t like Tendou.  But he wasn’t in a place he could handle Tendou today.  Tendou patted his nest a few times and simply settled himself onto the end of the couch.  A presence but nothing overwhelming.  Shouyou was glad Wakatoshi had a friend like Tendou.  And even gladder that Wakatoshi didn’t mind lending his best friend out on occasion.

He fell asleep with Tendou tapping a bizarre little beat on his nest and humming a vaguely familiar tune.

—

He woke up when Wakatoshi settled onto the couch.  Mostly because Wakatoshi took the end closest to his head and jostled him down the couch until he rolled around enough to be wedged between Wakatoshi and Tendou.  Tendou who was now asleep with his head thrown back and his mouth hanging open.

“Do I look like that when I sleep?” Shouyou asked irritatedly.

Wakatoshi grabbed Shouyou’s nest and wriggled them around until Shouyou was more or less in Wakatoshi’s lap and Wakatoshi’s feet were in Tendou’s lap.

“You are much cuter,” Wakatoshi answered when he had them all positioned the way he wanted.  “And you do not snore as much as him.”  He settled his chin on the top of Shouyou’s nest with a hum.  “Do you want me to get you up for dinner?”  Dinner sounded okay but not really good enough to push away the clouds.  Wakatoshi, thankfully, took his silence for the refusal it was and made a knowing noise.  “If you get hungry let me know.  Tendou still owes us about three dinners and at least three quarters of a dessert.”

“I only owe you two dinners,” Tendou muttered sleepily.  “And you owe me half a protein drink.  None of that pumpkin spice crap either.  I don’t even know how you can drink that.”

“Because it tastes like autumn looks,” Wakatoshi replied.

“Like death?”

“Like fashionable scarves and crunchy leaves and all sorts of wonderful things.”

“Death tastes like crunchy leaves.  Got it.”

Shouyou snorted softly and relaxed into his nest.  Listening to the two of them bicker like a married couple was one of the most relaxing, normal things.  Just what he needed today.


	9. UshiSuga Treat9

The moment Wakatoshi stepped into Koushi’s apartment and looked around his stomach sank.

Lights danced in the air.  They were beautiful.  Really they were.  Little flickering fireflies of dancing lights.  Tiny balls of warmth and sunshine and hopes and dreams floating in the air like, well, little lit up dust motes.

He left his coat and shoes by the door and wandered through the apartment looking for Koushi.  He knew he’d find him in either the bathroom or the living room and, honestly, he was hoping it was a bathroom kind of day.  Unsurprisingly his hopes were crushed when he stepped into the living room and spotted Koushi on his back staring up at the ceiling.  He wasn’t even looking at the lights he’d created.  Which didn’t bode well for anything really.

He sank to the floor near Koushi’s shoulder.

“You know,” he said carefully.  “They’re pretty.”  Koushi blinked a few times but that was the only reaction.  Wakatoshi waited a few minutes, watching the lights flutter and flicker.  “They’re pretty,” he repeated, “but not as pretty as the light in your eyes.  Especially when you’re happy.”

Koushi froze and the lights went out.  Wakatoshi hadn’t realized how much of the light in the living room had been from Koushi until that moment.  He sat in the darkness, content to just wait until Koushi was ready.  He focused on the magic in the air and the way his was searching out Koushi’s.  Like it always had from the moment they met.  He twirled a curl of magic around his finger and sent it into the air to follow whatever hints of Koushi’s was left.

Koushi sniffled once and that was the only warning Wakatoshi got before Koushi launched himself into Wakatoshi’s lap and buried his face against Wakatoshi’s neck.

“Can I do anything to help make you happy Koushi?”

Koushi laughed wetly against his neck and shook his head.

“You’re already doing it.”


	10. AkaIwa Treat10

“Just trust me,” Hajime said with a smile.

“The last time you said that I wound up with pointy elf ears and a button nose for three and a half days,” Keiji reminded him.  "And I’m still not one hundred percent sure it was entirely unintentional.“

“It’s better than the time I wound up with a panther tail and an insatiable hunger for cake pops,” Hajime shot back.  And, yeah, okay.  That was kind of a long five days for them both.  Keiji had made and bought so many cake pops that just the sight of cake had made him a little nauseous for awhile.  Which was impressive.  Because he loved cake.

Anyway.  Matter at hand.  He trusted Hajime.  Obviously since they had that whole non-contracted partnership worked out forever ago which had been a hell of a thing to get approved by their respective agencies.  He just didn’t trust Hajime when he had that smile on his face and insisted that Keiji trust him.  But none of Keiji’s main warning alarms were flaring in his mind or his magic.

Yet.

“So?”  Hajime held out his hand.

You wouldn’t think that a gesture could do so much to a person.  But Keiji felt his heart twist and his ribs twinge and his soul shiver with anticipation at that one simple gesture.  There were the warnings he had been waiting for.  He took note of them, catalogued them where they needed to be, and reached out for Hajime’s hand anyway; even they wouldn’t live forever after all.


	11. KageTsukki Trick1

“Go on,” Kageyama had said, “I dare you to.”  And, well, there was no way Kei could back down from a dare from him of all people.

So he’s here.  Staring warily up at a rickety old house on the top of an overgrown hill.  The wind whips around him, biting angrily at his exposed skin and throwing leaves against him.  Kei squints and peers up the cracked cement steps in front of him.  There has to be nearly a hundred of the damned things.  The door at the top of the steps hangs open, bathing the last few steps in golden light.

Nearly every instinct in his body is telling him that he needs to turn tail and run.  Like right now, right this very instant.  He needs to turn around and get as far away from here as fast as humanly possible.

But there’s that last instinct.  The one that had him touching pans as a child to see if they were actually hot.  The one that whispers to him in the dark of the night and fills his head with little what-ifs and maybes.  That’s the instinct that makes him put his foot on the step.

The light at the top glows infinitely brighter for a second and then dims back down and Kei would think it was a trick of the night had he not felt the blood in his veins pulse harder for that second.

Whatever is up there is calling out to him.  And he’s determined to answer it.

So he puts one foot in front of the other and climbs the steps and does his best to ignore the bushes rattling beside him as he climbs, ignore the way his steps echo back at him even though there’s nothing to bounce the sound off of, ignore the way his blood seems to sing inside his body with every step closer to the top.  He’s a moth and the light at the top of the steps draws him ever closer.

He has an inkling of what he’ll find as he climbs.  There’s a little niggle in the back of his mind, a little collection of thoughts and what-ifs that have been bouncing around and forming ideas.  So he’s not all that surprised when he finally reaches the open door and Kageyama is waiting for him, all dark shadows against the harsh light that seems to be coming from everywhere behind him and nowhere all at once.

“You came,” Kageyama says.  He doesn’t sound surprised, not really, but his voice has a careful tone to it like he’s waiting for Kei to snarl at him or something cruel.

Thunder rumbles in the distance.  Kei eyes the cloudless, starry sky warily.

“I didn’t really have a choice,” he replies distractedly as he tries to spot even a single cloud to account for the thunder continuing to rumble.

“You always have the choice.  I’d never take that away from you.”  

Kageyama tilts his head curiously when Kei snorts.  He finally drops his attention back to Kageyama and raises an eyebrow at him.

“And that’s why I didn’t have a choice.  Something like you giving something like me free will?” he explains when Kageyama makes a questioning noise.  “It’s unheard of.  An aberration.  Of course I had to come.”

Kei bushes past Kageyama in the doorway and steps into the light of the house.  Thunder rumbles yet again but this time Kei can feel it beneath his feet, a great vibrating grumble deep in the bowels of the house that makes his teeth ache.

“Well,” Kageyama says as he shuts the door, “this should be interesting.”


	12. BokuKuro Trick2

Once upon a time he had been told the first kill was the hardest.

Tetsurou can attest to the fact that it’s a lie.  The first kill isn’t the hardest.  It might be the one that causes you to lose the most sleep.  Or the one to make you stop and rethink your life.  But it - and every other one - is walk in the park on a clear spring day compared to this kill.

The hardest kill?  Killing your heart.

Koutarou looks at him, eyes even wider than normal, and gives him a questioning smile.

“Something wrong?”

Everything is wrong.  Everything about Tetsurou is one giant teetering cardboard stack of wrong.

“Right as rain,” Tetsurou replies.  Koutarou squinches his face up in Tetsurou’s direction and then shakes his head.

“You sure about doing this tonight?”  The stars are so bright tonight, so clear, that Tetsurou feels like he could reach up and pluck them out of the sky.  The air is crisp and cold and it rips at his lungs when he takes a deep breath and turns to Koutarou.

Koutarou startles when Tetsurou’s cold fingers slid against his throat and then laughs at his own jumpiness.  Tetsurou can feel the laughter vibrating under his palm and fingers where they’re wrapped around Koutarou’s throat.

Tetsurou stares into Koutarou’s bright eyes, searches them for any discomfort or hesitation or worry.  They’re clear and filled to the brim with trust even when Tetsurou’s fingers twitch and tighten around his throat for a moment.  Tetsurou takes a deep breath and drags his hands up to tangle his fingers in Koutarou’s wild hair.  He bows his head, noses against the vulnerable stretch of Koutarou’s throat, and prays to a plethora of gods - old and new alike - that he’s not even sure he believes in anymore.


	13. UshiKuro Trick3

The sound of wings fluttering fills the air.  Tetsurou doesn’t have to look around to know there’s nothing there.  There never is.  Not here.  Not in Ushijima’s lair.

There’s a stack of papers nearly as tall as Tetsurou that he eyes warily as he waits for Ushijima.  The last thing he needs is to do is create a mess he’ll have to try to sort out.  He has enough going on already.

“Kuroo.”  Ushijima steps out of the back room.  As stoic as he ever was in life he is twice as stoic now.  The look on his face doesn’t exactly bode well for Tetsurou’s request.  Then again he has never been all that good at reading Ushijima’s face.

He pastes on the most polite smile he can.

“Ushijima.  How are you today?”

“Acceptable enough I suppose.”  Ushijima clasps his hands together in front of himself.  “What did you need?”

The fluttering increases in volume and for a moment Tetsurou swears he can feel wings beating against the back of his neck.  Phantom birds tear at his hair and pluck at his collar.  Then Ushijima clears his throat and it all stops.

“Well you see.  About the soul I sold you-”

“No.”  Ushijima cuts him off.  “You signed the contract.  Did you not read the terms thoroughly?”

“I just really need-”

“You may need but you won’t get.”  Ushijima shrugs his shoulders.  “That is the way of things here.  You know this Kuroo.”  He reaches out and settles his hand on Tetsurou’s shoulder.  It’s a lot warmer than Tetsurou expects it to be, considering, well, everything.  “Oh,” he says softly.   “I see.  Heartless and soulless.  What will become of you?  Or better yet.  What will you become?”

“That,” Tetsurou says, “is what I’m worried about.”


	14. IwaTeru Trick4

“Why?”  Hajime tilts his head at an unnatural angle at the sound of Yuuji’s voice.  “Wha- what happened?”

Hajime’s mouth drops open but all that comes out is an unholy screeching that makes Yuuji’s skin crawl.  He shudders at the sound.  The noise continues.  It feels like it’s scraping against Yuuji’s bones and trying to dig out his soul or something.  He’s twitching and grimacing as the world around him seems to shimmer and waver like something is trying to rip a hole in the universe and drag itself through.

He bites his lip and drops to his knees.  Hajime watches him.  Watches as he curls into a ball and presses his hands to his ears.  Then his mouth snaps shut.  Yuuji isn’t sure if the screeching actually carries on for a heartbeat or two afterwords or if it is simply the ringing in his ears.  Either way he’s just glad it stops.

“Hajime?” Yuuji asks cautiously.  There’s a peculiar glint in Hajime’s eyes that he doesn’t much like the look of.  It’s too distant and barren for his comfort.

Hajime opens his mouth again and Yuuji braces for the worst.  “Hajime?” comes out instead.  But his voice cracks on each syllable, testing and tasting it like a brittle sour candy.  A horribly wrong recording of Hajime’s real voice.

Hajime’s mouth opens again and the last thing Yuuji sees before he blacks out is Hajime’s face melting into something truly demonic.


	15. SouMako Trick5

Makoto claws his way to the surface, clinging to the last shreds of his sanity as the mud and muck tries to keep him under.  This is what he gets for trusting, this is what he gets for baring his soul.  This is what he gets for-

His fingers break through and he struggles to pull himself into the cool night air.  He can feel his muscles twitching and twinging, his nerves jangling and skittish as he drags himself out of the ground and flops onto his back.  Had he been under for a few hours or a few days?  The stars are clear overhead but that really doesn’t tell him anything.  They were just as clear before.

“I knew you could do it,” Sousuke says, casually like he hadn’t been the one to put Makoto in the ground.  His smile is sharp, a bizarre mimicry of the sliver of crescent moon high above.  “A real trooper.”

“No thanks to you,” he tries to say but all that comes out is a croak.  His throat clenches and makes a valiant attempt at making words.  Sousuke chuckles softly.  Once upon a time that sound made Makoto’s heart skip a pleasant beat.  Now?  Not so much.

“Yeah,” Sousuke says and he almost sounds reluctant and sincere.  “Vocal cords are gonna be a little shot.  Side effect.  Should wear off in a few days.”  He shrugs and stands, offering a hand to Makoto.  One that he eyes warily.  He eventually reaches for it and Sousuke pulls him to his feet easy as you please.  “That is assuming you last that long.”


	16. MatsuDai Trick6

Everything is still.

Leaves hang in the air mid-fall.  Branches bend from a wind that isn’t blowing.  A dog’s mouth hangs open mid-bark.

Everything is still and quiet.

Everything except Issei.  He wanders silently through the frozen world.  Watches a sun that never sets float against the horizon.  Steps carefully over puddles that are stuck mid-ripple.  The entire world is at his fingertips and he breezes past it all like a ghost.

The world is so full of things but so empty.  It leeches away his soul piece by piece, this trying to keep a frozen world alive.

He maneuvers through cherry blossoms scattered in the air around a bench and collapses onto it.  The blossoms look a little like what he remembers stars against a dark night looking like.  When he closes his eyes he can almost see them.  Brilliant specks of light against all that darkness.

A shadow looms over him and it takes him far too long to realize the implications of that.  He tries to snap his eyes open but he’s used up so much energy that they peel apart like they’ve been glued shut.

“Hello there,” Daichi says softly.  Yet his voice echoes through the frozen world.  “I’ve been looking for you.”

Issei laughs.  Because of course Daichi had been looking for him.  Of course they would sent Daichi out to fix this.

“Well,” Issei manages around the sudden lump in his throat, “you found me.  Do with me what you will.”

Daichi raises his brows in surprise.  Issei knows it’s not like him to give up.  But an empty world is so exhausting to maintain by himself.  Daichi’s cool fingers wrap around Issei’s wrist and he doesn’t even resist in the slightest.

Cherry blossoms drift to the ground and where each one lands the world slowly comes back to motion.  It spreads like wildfire through dry brush and before Daichi even pulls him to his feet the world is alive again.

Issei just wishes he wasn’t alone to see it happen.


	17. IwaOiKage Trick7

Tobio stares at his hands, a morbid sort of calm settling over him.  He hears Oikawa let out some noise.  But it’s distant, like sound on a foggy night even though he knows Oikawa is only a few feet away.  He stares down.  Stares at the stains on his palms, the color flaking under his nails.  Oikawa’s fingers dig into his shoulder and he lets himself be spun around.  He pointedly looks past Oikawa’s shoulder both refusing to meet his eyes or look at the ground by Oikawa’s feet.

“How could you,” Oikawa is hissing.  “How dare you?”

Iwaizumi has always been the safe spot between the two of them.  The neutral ground.

Tobio lets his eyes drift downward just enough to make out Iwaizumi’s shadow against the ground then he jerks his gaze back up.  Oikawa is shaking, fingers digging into Tobio’s shoulder and eyes blazing with righteous fury.

Iwaizumi has always been a sore spot between the two of them.  Sacred ground.

And now Tobio has ruined him in the way that only Tobio can truly ruin a thing: utterly, completely, and irrefutably.

The night brightens around them as the moon breaks free of the clouds and Tobio can feel the way Iwaizumi’s soul struggles.  Oikawa can feel it too and he lets go of Tobio’s shoulder to drop to his knees and press shaking hands to Iwaizumi’s chest; desperately searching for the smallest grain of what makes Iwaizumi himself.

Tobio watches, eerily calm, as Oikawa pours himself into the task of bringing Iwaizumi back from the brink.  He already knows what Oikawa refuses to see: what you bring back from the brink is never going to be what you sent out there in the first place.


	18. AsaSou Trick8

Sousuke can’t help but stare as Asahi drifts past him on a cloud of contentment - aka as the souls of the twice-damned for those in the know like he is.  But not because of the wisps around Asahi’s feet or the feeling of danger in the air.  Nope.  He’s staring because Asahi’s hair is moving.  All on it’s own.  Somehow.

Asahi freezes when Sousuke steps on a small branch hidden in the shadows and, yep, his hair is definitely moving on it’s own.

“Who’s there?”  Asahi peers into the darkness of the forest, eyes focusing on something a few yards to Sousuke’s left.  “Show yourself.”  Asahi does a fairly decent job of sounding incredibly intimidating and he certainly carves a frightening figure in the middle of the enchanted clearing with his eyes glowing unnaturally and his hair curling and drifting around without a single breath of a breeze to help.

But Sousuke knows better.  He’s heard all the rumors and done a fair share of fact finding about this particular man.  Or what was left of him anyway.

He watches for a minute longer until Asahi starts to relax a touch and then slips out of the shadows.  He knows the frightening picture he makes when he does it.  All oozing darkness and rippling shadows.  Which is why he expects Asahi’s yelp of surprise.  He doesn’t expect the punch that Asahi throws at him but he manages to just barely dodge it anyway.

“Sousuke,” Asahi breathes out, hand pressing to his chest as if to still the rapid beating of a heart Sousuke isn’t entirely sure he even has anymore.  Some of the details of his fact finding were a little fuzzy after all.

Sousuke smiles his sharpest smile.  Asahi smiles back in confusion.

“You, uh,” Sousuke gestures to the bun of hair on the top of Asahi’s head, “you have a little something going on up there.”

Asahi reaches up slowly, like he thinks Sousuke is playing some sort of trick on him.  When his fingers land on whatever bizarre striped thing is in his hair he doesn’t startle like Sousuke expects him to.  Instead his face lights up and he gasps happily.

“Lulu there you are!”

Sousuke watches in awe as a huge snake slowly unravels itself from Asahi’s hair and winds it’s way down to Asahi’s shoulder.  He prides himself on the fact he doesn’t take a step back when the snake rears up and stares him down.

“Is it dangerous?” He asks as Asahi runs his fingers along the snake.

“Oh no.  Lulu isn’t dangerous at all.  Are you sweetie?” He coos at the snake.  “It’s Oodle and Noodle you have to be careful of.”  

“Oodle and Noodle?”  Something rustles in the darkness behind him.  He glances over his shoulder into the shadows and can see something moving but can’t seem to pin it down.

“Yeah.” Asahi’s smile has a dangerous edge to it.  “They like to play with their food.”


	19. OiNoya Trick9

Tooru presses his shaking hands against Yuu’s chest and wonders how many damn times he is going to have to do this.  How many times will the bodies of people precious to him be sprawled under him while he desperately scrabbles with time and the innards of the way the world works to try to drag their souls back from the brink?  How many times will Tobio manage to ruin him before there is nothing left?

No.  He shakes his head forcefully.  This isn’t Tobio.  This isn’t his work.  He doesn’t carve gaping wounds and leave vicious trails through the woods.  He is more delicate than this.  Tooru and Hajime had taught him better than this.

The thought of Hajime makes him twitch and he feels Yuu’s presence slipping through his fingers like a silk scarf.

He presses harder, digs deeper, reaches farther than he’s ever done before and Yuu’s body bounces.  Then it shivers and shudders and twitches, limbs jumping and bouncing.  And then just as quickly as it starts everything goes still.  Even the night around them seems to fall into a hush.

Tooru lets his hands drop to the dirt in defeat.  He can’t do this anymore.

Yuu jolts and sits up, peering around with an eerie calm.

“Oikawa?” He grits out.  Tooru is just as shocked by the fact that his vocal cords even work as he is by the light and intelligence in Yuu’s eyes.  He seems… alive.  Alive and okay and nothing at all like the way anyone else has ever come back.  Yuu’s eyes dart around, searching the woods around them for something.  He tenses and reaches for Tooru’s wrist.  “I’m so sorry,” he whispers as he yanks Tooru forward.  “For everything I’ve done and everything I’m about to do.”

Tooru lowers his head in submission before Yuu even presses at him with his magic.  Of course.  It only figures.  One of the best things Tooru was good at apparently was drawing those with arcane abilities and blood to himself like iron to a magnet.

He gives himself over, gives his blood and his magic and his soul, before Yuu can even ask.  It’s his best chance of getting himself back in one piece after all.


	20. AsaNoya Trick10

Rain falls around him in sheets, soaking his clothes to his skin and plastering his hair to his head but for the first time in a long time Yuu can’t be bothered to care about that.  The ground beneath him rumbles violently, shuddering and shifting as he approaches the clearing carefully.  He really wishes it hadn’t come to this.

He watches the shapes moving and coiling in the darkness.  He can hear the harsh rasps as they scrape against tree trunks and boulders.

Once upon a time he would have rushed towards them.  Would have darted through the trees and past the shapes with a laugh on his lips and launch himself at the man waiting beyond them.

But once upon a times are for fairy tales.  The kind of stories that have heroes and princes and get happy endings.

He hops up into the trees and scurries across branches much to thin to properly hold his weight, yet they do.  He peers down into the clearing and can easily see the man standing there despite the pouring rain.  The man tilts his head to the sky and smiles even though he has to know what’s coming for him.  Who’s coming for him.

Yuu hates that he has to do this.  There are some of his kind, he knows, that love to do this.  That practically live for it.  But not him.  He hates the blood on his hands and the stains on his soul.

“Yuu,” the man calls out almost cheerfully.  Like he doesn’t have a care in the world.  Yuu knows better than that.  Yuu knows him better than that.

He drops down to the ground, ignores how the sound of the rain hissing past him is overpowered by the hissing of the huge snake circling the edge of the clearing and weaving through the trees.

“Asahi.”  He doesn’t try to be cheerful.  He can’t today.  Not when he’s here to do what he’s here to do.

Asahi’s hair is loose, hanging damp against his collar and sticking to his cheeks.  He smiles happily when Yuu steps out of the shadows of the trees.  It breaks Yuu’s heart.  It really does.

But it’s only fitting that he’s the one here.  He’s the one here to put an end to Asahi’s - and his precious snakes’ - rampage.

It’s only fitting, he tells himself as he advances on Asahi.  They’ve been best friends for eons now.

And no one can break your heart and tear you to pieces quite like a best friend can.


	21. KyouTeru Trick11

“I’ve seen some shit this year,” Yuuji announces to the room.  The only one who even looks at him is Kentarou and he takes that as an invitation to plop down next to the other man.  “I mean.  I see some weird shit every few months.  But the stuff I’ve seen this week?  More than fills my weird shit quota for the next six months at least.”

“And I care because?”  Kentarou eyes him like he’s waiting for Yuuji to do some sort of trick.

“Because you’re one of my roommates and a guy who appreciates my abs with his mouth on a bi-weekly basis?”

Kentarou snorts as he hooks his elbow around the back of Yuuji’s neck and drags him closer.  “I’d appreciate more of you with my mouth if you weren’t so protected.”

The look he gives Yuuji makes him feel like an all you can eat chicken leg buffet and Yuuji’s just ran out of chicken.

“I am not entirely sure what you mean by that,” Yuuji says, “but I will keep that in mind.”

—

Apparently what he meant by that was rather literal.  As in he would literally have Yuuji in his mouth if he wasn’t protected.  As in he would have his teeth against Yuuji’s skin if he wasn’t protected.  As in he would literally be trying to gnaw off Yuuji’s arm if he wasn’t covered in layer upon layer of protective wards.  Wards Yuuji didn’t even know he had until they were suddenly gone and all three of his roommates started sniffing the air like hungry dogs picking up a delicious scent.

He had managed to fend off two of them.  The one he barely knew that only moved in last week had been pushed onto the balcony and locked out.  The other, a sweet guy who had been living with them a few months that Yuuji barely ever saw, had been shoved into the hall closet as Yuuji had sprinted down the hallway towards the only room with a locking door: the bathroom.

Not that the lock did much good considering Kentarou had been practically plastered on his back as he ran and had barreled into the bathroom right behind Yuuji.  He slammed the door shut and locked it before Yuuji could even stop himself from stumbling into the shower.

And now.  Now Kentarou is licking his way up Yuuji’s arm - and not in the good fun kinky way Yuuji had always imagined him doing - and biting into his flesh.  Just deep enough to almost break the skin.  Just playing with him.

—

Yuuji groans as he wakes up.

Everything hurts.  And somehow it doesn’t at the same time.  It’s an odd ache.  Almost like it’s an ache that’s just a memory of one.  Like remembering what it feels like to hit your elbow on a table.  Distant and sharp all at once.

He coughs a couple times and runs his tongue along his chapped lips.  He’s so thirsty.  And hungry.  Like he hasn’t eaten or drank anything for days.

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” Kentarou says from somewhere across the room.  He laughs like it’s some sort of joke.  

The more Yuuji manages to remember back to before he passed out the more he realizes that Kentarou is laughing that way not because it’s like a joke.  But because it really is one.

Whatever he is now, whatever he’s become, he isn’t alive anymore.


End file.
